January 2021 Reads

I love to read. This is what I’ve been reading over the last 6 weeks or so.

Dawson Junior G3 – Wag

I actually read this one at the end of December, but hadn’t gotten around to reviewing it yet, so I’ll include it here.

Like many of the best dystopian stories, Dawson Junior G3 starts with a protagonist, (Frank in this case) who is somewhat blind to the flaws in the society in which he lives. The technological advances bring safety and security, but at what cost/ Like in both Fahrenheit 541 and in 1984 our protagonist then meets someone who doesn’t conform to the expectations of the age, and opens our protagonist’s to what he can’t see.

In this novella, the world is completely convincing. The technology and the politics have clearly been thought about, and it’s entirely believable. The most convincing dystopian tales hold a mirror up to our own society, and Wag does that well here, without ever becoming preachy.

I was enjoying reading Wag’s novella so much, I was sorry to see it come to an end. To some extent, the final part does play our rather quickly. I felt Frank could have had a little more to overcome before we reached the conclusion, but maybe I’m just selfish for wanting more. Recommended if you’re looking for a quick read, if you like dystopian fiction and imagining the technology of the future.

You can get it here.

The Stand – Stephen King

I’ve read a lot of Stephen King, but The Stand was one I’d never read. Having watched the 90s miniseries, I felt I knew the story, and even though the characters felt familiar to me, there is so much more to the novel. It’s gone right to the top end of my list of favourite Stephen King novels.  I read the standard edition, and that weighs in at well over 700 pages. I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to go back and read the uncut and extended edition that adds so much more for all of the characters.

Maybe during a pandemic isn’t the best time to read a story about a disease which wipes out over 99% of the population, but there’s so much more to it that that that. The disease moves quickly, and it becomes a story of survival, and then a story of good versus evil as survivors are either drawn to Mother Abigail or Randall Flagg.

While there’s the odd dated reference in there now, a few things that will make you cringe, in remains an outstanding piece of fiction with excellent characters and epic storytelling. I absolutely loved it, and will definitely to back for the extended edition I just want to find a really nice edition.

Sole Survivor and Sole Survivor 2: Drop Bears on the Loose – Zachary Ashford

I read the sequel for review which will appear on Ginger Nuts of Horror in the future, so I won’t say too much about that here, other than it’s a follow-up which manages to successfully transport a threat from a contained location to a larger environment.

Onto the original: Sole Survivor is about a group who are to star in a reality TV survival show, only for their plane to crash onto an island en route which is populated by a carnivorous koala bears. What the contestants don’t realise, is that this was the plan of the TV show all along, and the challenge is not just survival against the elements, but survival against a bloodthirsty threat.

This is not a novella to take seriously. It’s part of Unnerving’s Rewind or Die series, inspired by 80s video nasties – creature features with high body-counts, colourful characters and ridiculous set pieces. I’ve read a few of them, and this is among my favourites. Ashford had a flair for language which utterly suits the situation. He includes lots of characters whose only purpose is to fall foul of the drop bears (if you don’t know about drop bears, go look them up).

It was a really fun read. If you’re a fan of creature horror that doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s worth a look. On Kindle, I paid 77p for it, and I was well entertained for a couple of hours.

Get your copy here.

The Curse of Odin – Jo Kutya

I had an absolute blast with this. It was one of those novels I kept sneaking in an extra chapter of, so I was done with it in 3 days, and spent most of those smiling. The Curse of Odin is a steam punk adventure, set in an alternative Victorian London, inspired by the mysteries of Sherlock Holmes.

It begins when a young pickpocket, Blink, places his hand into the pocket of inventorist Thaddeus Q Abernathy. It begins an unlikely partnership between the two as they investigate a threat against the city of London.  The villain threatens to unleash the curse of Odin – something which will wipe out the entire city.

The pace of the novel is incredibly quick as the two get further and further embroiled in the mystery. With every situation they both get a little closer to solving the mystery, and the peril grows. Along the way they meet a series of interesting characters, and a greater universe and even more stories within it are hinted at.

This is a novel of incredibly invention. The technology of the steampunk world is imaginative, and adds to the excitement. It never feels like it only exists to get characters out of a dire situation either – there is always a good reason for each particular invention to exist within the world.

The main characters, Blink and Abernathy are also really well developed. Blink has had a tough life since losing his parents, and as such he finds it difficult to trust Abernathy. Together, they are an unlikely pair. They often see the world in different ways, but it is through this opposing viewpoints that they’re often able to overcome the challenges they face.

There are more adventures for these two to come, and I’ll be among the first to read them.

Find out more here.

Sick I and II by Christa Wojciechowski

I read the first two instalments of Wojciechowski’s Sick trilogy in a couple of nights.

It tells the story of Susan and John Branch, and John’s continuing struggles with illness. Told from Susan’s perspective, we see her sink lower and lower. Every time there seems to be a little light at the end of the tunnel, John suffers again in another way, and Susan is pushed further to try to find a way through. It’s incredibly bleak. The main character draws a great deal of sympathy from what seems like a relentless run of misfortune.

There are plenty of hints at what’s going on, and as a reader I felt just a step ahead of Susan, and totally understood her as a character.

The second book gives us John’s backstory and his hideous upbringing. It’s still a compelling read, but John isn’t as sympathetic character as Susan, so it’s not quite as effective.

I’ve gone straight onto the third book to see how their story turns out. You can find out here.